Underground Construction - July 2018 - 2

EDITOR'S LOG
Robert Carpenter | Editor-in-Chief

Our Parents' Dream

I'm a Carpenter (pun intended),
but my construction skills are
somewhat limited. I've always admired those who could envision a
project, pick up a hammer and a
saw, and then build something of
quality and endurance. My brotherin-law is like that. My dad always
teased my sister that she had to
marry a carpenter to finally get one
in the family.
While my Dad was a Carpenter
in name only too, he did work in all
kinds of construction projects for
the Civilian Conservation Corps
during the Great Depression. He
never had the chance to complete
school. Like many Depression Era
children growing up in Dust Bowl
Oklahoma, he was forced to quit
school and find work to help support
his family. His mother was a widow,
and he still had a younger sister at
home. My mother was able to finish
high school, but she, too, needed
to work, her mother had passed
away. When she was 15, her mother
passed away, so she ran the household with her father.
When mom and dad got married in 1940, life began to look up.
Though they didn't have two nickels
to rub together, they both were able
to find good jobs with a future -
something that rarely existed during
the Depression. They loved kids and
desperately wanted children. But
then Word War II came along and
Dad got drafted early. While Dad
was tromping around North Africa
and Europe, Mother left Oklahoma to work at the Seattle-Tacoma
Shipyard. She eventually became
foreman of a welding crew. When
Dad was finally mustered out of the
Army, they had been married almost
five years but only spent 18 months
together.
Returning home, life started
over for these two members of the
Greatest Generation. Dad eventually started a local business and Mom
was an essential part of that. Finally,

JULY 2018 | UConOnline.com

For me, being
compared to
my parents is a
compliment. Anyone
who has even a
remote similarity to
a working career of
determination and
tenacity similar to
what our parents and
grandparents had,
will no doubt infuse a
great boost into the
workforce.
after 11 years, my oldest sister was
born, followed by another sister and,
at last, they had their boy - me.
Even though Dad proved to be an
excellent businessman, he always believed that his lack of education held
him back. Mother loved learning.
Her big regret was that she was unable to attend college. They both saw
tremendous opportunities for their
children and absolutely believed it
was essential that we obtain a college education.
There weren't alone. Most Baby
Boomers had parents who also
believed that the American Dream
now included a college degree. They
all wanted better lives for their
children. They didn't mind working hard and making sacrifices if
that's what it took to get their kids
through school. Hopefully, their
children would complete some kind
of post-secondary education so they

didn't have to toil in jobs of a physical nature. For Baby Boomers and
subsequently Generation X, college
was synonymous with success. Naturally, we passed that philosophy
along to our children. The result was
the creation of the Millennial Generation.
Now, we have a workforce story that seemingly never ends. The
economy is booming, but an adequate workforce to meet our country's needs is lagging so severely
behind demand that projects across
a broad spectrum are in danger of
being delayed, scaled back or even
scrapped. Workforce availability is
largely restricted by an over-arching
attitude that hard work with your
hands, quite often in an outdoor
environment, is a poor career choice.
Never mind that it's honorable
work - often done by our parents or
grandparents - and that the pay and
benefits can be equal to or greater
than an office job.
The good news is that Generation
Z is now beginning to filter into the
workforce. For a variety of reasons,
Gen Z'ers seem to reflect work values and attitudes more typical of our
parents and grandparents. Many
people laugh, even fear, becoming
like their parents. For me, being
compared to my parents is a compliment. Anyone who has even a remote similarity to a working career
of determination and tenacity similar to what our parents and grandparents had will no doubt infuse a
great boost into the workforce.
Finding an adequate workforce
has become a Holy Grail type of
search for not just contractors, but
public works, manufacturers and all
sorts of related industries. Indeed,
workforce issues may very well
define the success or failure of our
markets over the next few years.

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Underground Construction - July 2018

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